Office-indicator.



N0. 684,820. Patented 00f. 22, I901. P. J. HILGENDOBF.

' OFFICE INDICATOR.

(Application filed Mar. 19, 1901.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL J. IIILGENDORF, OF HOPKINTON, IOWA.

OFFIQE-l NDICATOR.

SPEGIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,820, dated October 22, 1901.

Application filed March 19, 1901. Serial No. 51,910. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL J. HILGENDORF, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hopkinton, in the county of Delaware and State of Iowa, have invented anew and useful Office- Indicator, of which the following is a specitication.

The invention relates to improvements in office-indicators.

The object-of the present invention is to improve the construction of office-indicators and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient one capable of ready adjustment and adapted to display a variety of information for indicating the whereabouts pf a person, the time of his return to the office, and the like.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of an office-indicator constructed in accordance with this invention and partially broken away to show a portion of one of the rotary disks. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing another arrangement of the parts. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the'line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail view of'the oscillatory indicator.

1 designates a cardboard body provided with an approximately centrally arranged opening 2, adapted to display or expose a portion of the surface of a rotary disk or plate 3, which is preferably constructed of cardboard; but the body and the disk or plate 3 may, if desired, be constructed of any other suitable material. The disk or plate 3 cooperates with a second disk or plate 4, which is exposed through an aperture 5, located at one side of the body, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The upper or smaller disk or plate is designed to contain such matter as The doctor will return at, Can be found at, Will return soon, and similar expressions, and they may be applied to the face of the disk or plate 3 in any suitable manner.

The lower or larger disk or plate, which is partially exposed through the aperture 5, is designed to contain a large amount of information, and it extends a short distance bepointed.

yond the side of the body to enable it to be readily rotated to bring any matter on its surface opposite the aperture 5. This lower disk, which is designed to be. read in connection with the exposed portion of the upper disk or plate, is designed to be provided with the hours, which are successively arranged and which may be brought to the aperture 5, as indicated in Fig. 1, so that the indicator will read that the doctor or the person will return at the designated time. Other informationsuch as Hall, Barber, Church, Court-house, F Drugstore, Bank, and the like-may be provided, and the disk or plate 4 is adapted to be rotated to bring any word or expression on its face opposite the aperture 5, and the indicator maybe arranged as shown in Fig. 2, one of the disks or plates displaying Can be found at and the other disk or plate showing the word Bank. It will be clear that a large amount of information may be arranged in convenient position to be readily exposed to indicate the whereabouts of a person, or the time when he will return, or the like, and the indicator is designed to be provided with suitable devices or words for calling attention to the information displayed, and it may contain additional information to indicate the office-hours, the telephone-number, and the like.

In order to enable the information to be compactly arranged and to economize the space of the lower disk or plate 4, an oscillatory indicator 6 is arranged to move transversely of the aperture 5 to arrange the number 30 over the-face of the disk or plate 4 to change from the hour to the half-hour. The disk or plate 4 is designed to be provided only with the hours, which will be arranged asfollows: 1.001 .M.,2.00P.M., 3.00 P. M., 4.00 P. M., &c. When it is desired to indicate the half-hour, the transversely-movable ind icator'6 is swung upward to arrange the 30 over the two ciphers, as indicated in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and the said indicator 6 is adapted to be moved downward or backward to the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. The transverselymovable indicator, which is approximately L-shaped, as illustrated in Fig. 4, is provided at one end with a perforation 7 for the reception of a pivot 8, and its other end 9 carries the number 30, which is exposed, as before exp1ained,when the transversely-movable indicator is raised, as shown in Fig. 1. The in dicator 6 is provided at its angle with a knob or head 10, connected with the indicator by a stem, which is arranged in a curved slot 11 of the body, whereby the movement of the indicator 6 is limited. The knob or head is also adapted to be grasped to operate the indicator 6.

It will be seen that the office-indicator is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to contain a large amount of information, and that the same may be varied to adapt the indicator for the use to which it is to be applied. It will also be seen that the transversely-movable indicator is adapted to be readily shifted to expose a portion of its surface at the aperture 6, and that it will dispense with the half-hours on the disk or plate 4-, and will thereby enable the space of the same to be economized.

WVhat I claim is An officeindicator comprising a body provided with the aperture 5 and having a short curved slot arranged adjacent to the aperture, a rotary plate mounted on the body at the back thereof and located beneath the aperture 5 and adapted to be exposed thereat, the L-shaped transversely-disposed oscillatory indicator located at the said slot and pivoted at one end to the body, its other end being arranged to swing to and from the aperture 5 and adapted to cover a portion thereof, whereby a portion of the surface of the oscillatory indicator is exposed, and the knob or head provided with a stem extending through the slot and connected with the indicator at the angle thereof, substantially as and for the purpose described.

Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PAUL J. HILGENDORF.

Witnesses:

M. H. MACAR'IHUR, R. R. WILLIAMSON. 

